When a currency collapses, you can be certain that other economic
metrics are moving in a negative direction, too. Indeed, using new data from Iran’s
foreign-exchange black market, I estimate that Iran’s monthly
inflation rate has reached 69.6%.

With a monthly inflation rate this high (over 50%), Iran is
undoubtedly experiencing hyperinflation.

So can hyperinflation happen in America? Highly unlikely.
As Matt O’Brien points out, hyperinflation is
what you get when a nation has truly massive debt problems,
out-of-control money printing, and economic chaos.

Right now getting the markets to buy our debt isn’t the problem.
Getting enough debt for the markets to buy is the problem.
Investors are so crazy to load up on Treasuries that they’re
actually paying us to borrow, taking inflation into
account.

Second, the United States isn’t really printing money. …
Quantitative easing is usually described as
“money-printing” but it’s not really. QE involves the Fed buying
longer-term bonds from banks. It simply swaps one asset for
another — in this case, cash for longer-term bonds.

Third, the most important difference between us and post-war
Hungary or Weimar is that our roads haven’t been razed to the
ground and half the country isn’t striking. It’s very difficult
to have hyperinflation when you still have a functioning economy.
Almost all examples of hyperinflation result from huge economic
shocks that devastate an economy so much that leaders think
printing money is the only solution to growth.